Takeover talk fuels market rise

The sharemarket closed higher amid continued market speculation that some key companies are about to become takeover targets.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 43.4 points higher at 5067.6 after gains on Wall Street.
"It was a reasonably good night on the Dow and the market has really followed on from yesterday," said Man Financial broker Anthony Anderson. "There is a little bit of takeover talk in the market and the market feels supported with that."
The biggest contributor to the index's advance was Foster's, which surged 50¢, or 9.2 per cent, its biggest one-day rise in almost 16 years, to $5.95. Chief executive Trevor O'Hoy yesterday declined to comment on market speculation that the company might be a takeover target. Foster's yesterday posted a 26.8 per cent jump in annual profit for 2005-06.
Speculation of a potential move on Coles Myer also continued, with its shares nudging 1¢ higher to close at $13.83.
Another retailer, Westfield Group, yesterday posted a first-half net profit of $3.38 billion, up 120 per cent. Despite this, the shares fell 22¢ to $18.16.
The weaker oil price pushed local energy stocks lower, with Woodside, which has initiated a $US883 million takeover bid for a US company, dropping 27¢ to $41.78. Other energy stocks were also lower, with Santos down 4¢ at $11.44 and Oil Search losing 9¢ to $3.32.
The big miners were firmer. BHP Billiton moved up 27¢ to $27.74 and Rio Tinto rose 57¢ to $73.45.
The spot gold price finished down $US5.80 an ounce at $US617.25 in Sydney trade. The gold miners moved accordingly, with Newcrest dropping 16¢ to $19.20, Newmont losing 10¢ to $6.80 and Lihir Gold falling back 7¢ to $2.91.
The Big Four banks all gained ground. ANZ rose 40¢ to $26.85, Commonwealth 51¢ to $45.16, National Australia Bank 36¢ to $36.01 and Westpac 27¢ to $23.05.
Media group Seven Network delivered an annual profit of nearly $108 million, up 28.6 per cent on the previous year, pushing its shares up 20¢ to $9.38.
Among other media companies, Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd dropped 14¢ to $18.01, Fairfax moved up 11¢ to $4.04 and News Corp's non-voting shares gained 17¢ to $24.69 as the voting scrip picked up 3¢ to $25.70.
The most traded stock on market was Imperial Corp, with nearly 73.9 million shares traded, worth a total of $1.62 million. The shares gained 0.6¢ to 2.4¢.
A drop in the price of oil overnight underpinned the stronger performance of US stocks, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 67.96 points at 11,352.01, the S&P 500 Index finding 6.69 points to 1301.78 and the Nasdaq Composite putting on 20.41 points to 2160.7.